The Settlers 2 plays a bit like Populous or SimCity. Your job is to direct your people, but you don’t control them directly. You start with a Headquarters stocked with various goods, and proceed to build up your community and harvest resources. Simple, right? Well, soon enough your economic web gets a lot more tangled. You start with harvesting basic building materials like wood and stone, but later on you’ll mine coal. But coal is also used by the mint to turn gold ore into coins to pay your troops. And coal and iron are used by the armory to build weapons and shields for the same troops. So when coal gets scarce…what do you do?

Plus in order to build on land in this game, you have to control it, and that’s where your military comes in. Build a barracks at the edge of your land and its influence will extend your borders. Bigger military structures will extend the borders further, but of course they require more materials and time to build. While you can set up a “free game” with no opponents and play peacefully, when you undertake the Settlers 2 campaign you won’t be alone in the world. Soon enough you’ll meet your neighbors.

Some of the best gaming CGI back in ’96.

There’s depth and much detail here. You’ll learn to fine tune everything from distribution of goods to what products get priority on the highway. Soldiers gain experience from battle, and you can hold these veterans in reserve, or send them into the fray. And this game has naval units, which add even more complexity.

This isn’t for RTS fans. The pace is fairly sedate, and you’ll use a lot more brainpower than mousepower, even though the game does run in real time. But for you strategy lovers out there, Settlers 2 should provide lots of gameplay value.